objector will urge his difficulties with such a semblance of conviction as even to mislead some of those present. ... So far from any check being put on the liberty of the students, they are encouraged to press home every sort of objection, however searching and fundamental, however bold and profane (e. g. against the existence of God, free will, immortality of the soul, Divinity of Christ, the Catholic Church etc.), that can be raised to the Catholic doctrine. In every class are found to be men, who are not to be put off with an evasion, and a professor who was to attempt to substitute authority for reason, would very soon find out his mistake. This perfect liberty of disputation is one of the many happy results of the possession of perfect and unfailing truth."[1]
Every six or eight weeks, all the more important theses discussed during the preceding time, are defended in the monthly disputations, at which all the different classes of the institution and all the professors of the faculty are present. Sometimes more solemn disputations are held, to which frequently professors from other institutions are invited, and any one is free to offer objections which the defender has to solve. There can be no doubt that this method has many great advantages. First of all, it forces the student to study his proposition most thoroughly; for he is not aware what objections shall be made. Therefore, both defenders and objectors have to prepare most carefully, to examine closely the proposition on all sides, to know its exact meaning, to understand the arguments, and to discover its weak points. The professor, of course, is present, sees that strict syl-
- ↑ Father Clarke in the Nineteenth Century, August, 1896.
